Baron tops messy Indy Lights qualifying

Alex Baron will lead an all-Belardi front row after claiming pole in a dramatic Indy Lights qualifying session in Toronto.

On a damp track, Baron went to the top relatively early with a 1m06.01892, and the manner in which the rest of the session unfolded meant that he was still there at the end. Indeed, he didn't even bother to go back out onto the track for the brief final spell of greens.

"The session was pretty hard," he said. "The rain started before the session so I was a bit nervous and didn't know what to expect. So I'm very happy."

Early on, the driver who looked most likely to beat him was team-mate and points leader Gabby Chaves. However, just as everyone pitted to change tires, Chaves's car suddenly lost drive and left him stranded on the track just after Turn 2, bringing out out the red flags.

The maximum penalty for causing a red flag is the loss of a driver's two fastest laps, but Chaves – who was not responsible for his car's failure, and who did all within his power to get his car out of harm's way – was only deducted one fast lap, which allowed him to remain in second.

Ordinarily that would still have left him vulnerable, but fate smiled on him when Zach Meyer spun immediately after the restart, and moments later, Juan Piedrahita hit the tires and brought the reds out again. By the time the mess was cleared up there was only enough time for each driver to get one green lap, and it wasn't enough to have any impact on the order.

Matthew Brabham will start alongside Jack Harvey on the second row, ahead of Luiz Razia and Zach Veach.